The way in which different GGR pathways will work together in the context of evolving energy systems and policy landscapes was the subject of a recent GGR programme webinar presented by Professor Niall MacDowell from Imperial College London.
The GGR Programme project – Comparative assessment and region-specific optimisation of GGR – is an international consortium. The webinar focused on the variation in the ability of different countries to deploy GGR options and the potential role of collaboration in reaching targets through GGR approaches.
Central to the project’s research is an analysis of the global distribution of potential GGR resources and how the burden of responsibility to use GGR is shared among countries. Current levels of biomass potential and storage potential indicate it is almost impossible for any countries to meet their quotas without some form of active and meaningful collaboration.
The project has developed the MONET framework as a lens through which to view the global evolution of GGR and to offer insight into what collaboration might look like on GGR deployment. Using data on energy crops, crop residue availability, land availability and CO2 storage capacity from the EU-28, India, China, Brazil and the US, the model runs in decadal time steps to deliver CO2 targets in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change P1 to P4 pathways. This provides information on rates of change of intensity of energy services across the different regions over time.
Currently the MONET tool includes BECCS, different types of direct air capture, afforestation and biochar and the project is building the portfolio further to understand how these different CO2 removal pathways might evolve together in the different regions.
The project has assessed how the level of collaboration will affect how we reach targets and results indicate that less engagement between countries will jeopardise targets.